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Broxtowe MP Anna Soubry visited The University of
Nottingham’s Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre (CBTRC) on Monday September 23, where she met the scientists and clinicians working on the latest research to improve diagnosis and treatment for childhood brain tumours.
Every year around 450 children in the UK are diagnosed with a brain tumour. Survival rates for childhood brain tumours in the UK are among the lowest in Europe.
Until the
HeadSmart ‘Be Brain Tumour Aware’ campaign was initiated by The University of Nottingham in 2011, children in the UK were waiting up to three times longer for a brain tumour diagnosis than those in other developed countries. HeadSmart has been effective in reducing diagnosis times but further improvements are still possible to improve survival rates and make long-term survivors suffer less disability.
The CBTRC performs pioneering research into genetic abnormalities of brain tumours, novel imaging techniques and drug delivery. It also excels in diagnosis, innovative treatment and raising awareness.
Recovery rate improvements
During her visit to the CBTRC, Anna Soubry MP heard how the recovery rates of young patients being treated on the children’s cancer wards at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s Queen’s Medical Centre have been drastically improved by having access to experimental drugs through clinical trials run by the CBTRC.
Headed up by Co-Director of the CBTRC Richard Grundy, Professor of Paediatric Neuro-Oncology and Cancer Biology, the CBTRC’s research laboratories have produced some significant advances in diagnosing and treating brain tumours. Among these has been work to better understand the basic genetics of childhood brain tumours, why they may respond differently to treatment and offer varying prognoses for patients — work which was published in high impact journals Lancet Oncology, Nature and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre is being supported by The University of Nottingham’s Impact Campaign, which aims to raise £150 million through charitable donations from the public, businesses and alumni to support a series of high-impact projects on the local, national and global stage.
Across five campaign themes these projects will have a positive and lasting influence on society and the potential to make an impact that will touch generations.
Funding from the Impact Campaign will enable the CBTRC to make further crucial advances into understanding the cause, nature, treatment and outcomes of childhood brain tumours.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottinghamhas 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It was ‘one of the first to embrace a truly international approach to higher education’, according to the Sunday Times University Guide 2013. It is also one of the most popular universities among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong and the QS World Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its research into global food security.
Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fundraising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news…